May 17, 2013, 1:00pm - 5:00pm

As part of part of CHRGJ’s two-year initiative to further research, scholarship, debate, and education about human rights fact-finding, the Center will host a by-invitation-only expert workshop entitled Human Rights Fact-Finding and the Science of Eyewitness Memory on May 17, 2013. This is the second in an ongoing series of workshops held as part of the initiative, following December 2012’s Human Rights Fact-Finding with New Information and Communication Technologies.

The Eyewitness Memory workshop will bring memory and eyewitness testimony experts from the fields of psychology and neuroscience into discussion with experienced human rights investigators. The human rights field relies heavily on witness testimony as a source of evidence of human rights abuse, yet much of the research from disciplines studying memory has not been brought to bear on human rights investigations. This workshop asks how the findings of scientific research into memory might impact the fact-finding methods employed by human rights advocates. Topics to be discussed include eyewitness suggestibility and the misinformation effect; the effect of emotion, stress and trauma on witness memory; and the impact of language and culture on memory.

Workshop participants will be provided a draft background paper before the event, and the workshop will help inform the paper, to be published later this year by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

Welcome

Introduction

"As part of a premier law school — and situated at the crossroads of academia and the broader human rights NGO community — CHRGJ is uniquely positioned to initiate new and critical debate on human rights theory and practice, bringing together scholars and practitioners to deepen and reinvigorate the field."